Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, (A)You have searched me and known me.
2 (B)You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You (C)understand my thought afar off.
3 (D)You [a]comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, (E)You know it altogether.
5 You have [b]hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 (F)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 (G)Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 (H)If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
(I)If I make my bed in [c]hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall [d]fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, (J)the darkness [e]shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
Israel Restored to the Land
21 (A)“I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and (B)My hand which I have laid on them. 22 (C)So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. 23 (D)The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore (E)I hid My face from them. I (F)gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 (G)According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.” ’
25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: (H)‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the (I)whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— 26 (J)after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they (K)dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. 27 (L)When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I (M)am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, 28 (N)then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them [a]captive any longer. 29 (O)And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have (P)poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God.”
God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, (A)He swore by Himself, 14 saying, (B)“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the (C)promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and (D)an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to (E)the heirs of promise (F)the [a]immutability of His counsel, [b]confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two [c]immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to (G)lie, we [d]might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope (H)set before us.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, (I)and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 (J)where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, (K)having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.